I'm pleased to announce that I managed to post an entry for every day this month. Not bad! I can't imagine I'll manage to keep it up for the whole year, but still: solid work, me! Here's our final entry for January.
Danny Brown, "Generation Rx"
It seems like just yesterday I was saying I liked it when electronic music met rap, and this beat here is a fine example of that kind of thing. This is from Detroit rapper Danny Brown's debut album, The Hybrid. I haven't had this album long, and damn, there's some bad shit in these lyrics. Hadn't noticed that before.
Queen, "Somebody To Love"
I don't think Queen needs much of an introduction. This comes from A Day At The Races, an unapologetic over-the-top slab of theatrical glam rock. There aren't very many rock bands that have ever been able to pull off this kind of thing and not sound totally ridiculous, but Queen were the masters of it. And, I suppose they did sound totally ridiculous, but their genius was in shamelessly embracing it and they therefore never seemed silly. It helps to have one of the greatest front men ever in rock.
G. Love & Special Sauce, "Everybody"
We've got a track from their second album here, Coast to Coast Motel, which started to demonstrate diminishing returns from their loose noodling. This song, for instance, is fine, but awfully aimless. I won't blame anybody for just going back and listening to that Queen song again.
Laika, "Marimba Song"
From Silver Apples of the Moon, the debut album from the kind of indescribable Laika. Formed by folks who had appeared in various other bands, they merged jazz, electronics, pop, and some trip-hop into a pretty unique confection. I mean, the layers of percussion here, the flute - this is pretty heady stuff. There's nobody really quite like Laika.
MF Doom, "The Mic"
From Doom's debut album, it's both an impressive piece of work and a real mess. I mean, listen to this beat. Shit sounds cheap! And the hook! But, of course, there's also Doom's formidable rhyming to go with it. Doom would go on to do much, much better work, leaving this album probably best for only serious fans.